Steve Vai is a renowned guitarist, composer, singer-songwriter, and producer who has won Grammys three times and sold over 15 million records throughout his music career. A prolific musician, Vai has been active in the music scene for over four decades and continues to make musical efforts both as a solo artist and a contributor.
Vai was born in Carle Place, New York, on June 6, 1960, and became interested in music after walking up to a piano and hitting a note at the age of five. He then felt a deep connection between music and himself and decided to play guitar at six. When he was eleven, Vai listened to Led Zeppelin‘s ‘Heartbreaker’ and began learning to play guitar with Joe Satriani as his tutor.
Later, Vai began playing in local bands throughout his high school years. Influenced by artists such as Brian May, Ritchie Blackmore, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, and Jimi Hendrix, Vai attended Berklee College Of Music to pursue his interest in music further. He has worked with various iconic artists in the following years as a collaborator.
Steve Vai Has Worked With Many Important Names In The Scene
In 1973, Steve Vai began to take guitar lessons from Joe Satriani. In 1978, he started his music career as Frank Zappa’s transcriptionist at eighteen. When Vai was in the middle of his fourth semester at Berklee College Of Music, he decided to move to California to start his career as Zappa’s session and touring artist.
Vai played in Zappa’s band between 1980 and 1983. After that, the guitarist embarked on a solo career and, while working on solo efforts, replaced Yngwie Malmsteen as the lead guitarist of Alcatrazz in June 1984. Recording the album ‘Disturbing The Peace’ with Alcatrazz, Vai left the band after the album’s promotional tour.
The guitar icon then joined David Lee Roth’s band as the lead guitarist and contributed to their debut album ‘Eat ‘Em And Smile.’ The album became a huge critical and commercial success and made Vai recognized as a prolific guitar player. After releasing the 1988 album ‘Skyscraper,’ Vai toured with Roth and left the band in 1989.
After leaving Diamon Dave’s band, Vai completed recording his ‘Passion And Warfare’ and began recording guitar parts of Whitesnake’s album ‘Slip Of The Tongue’ after replacing Adrian Vandenberg in the band. The album sold over three million copies, and Vai toured with Whitesnake worldwide for thirteen months.
Following the release of ‘Passion And Warfare’ in 1990, Vai left Whitesnake to focus on his solo career. He then worked with Ozzy Osbourne and co-wrote and recorded his ‘Ozzmosis’ album. In 1991, Vai contributed to Alice Cooper’s ‘Hey Stoopid’ album with Joe Satriani.
Later on, in 1996, Steve Vai joined his former guitar teacher Satriani for the second installment of Satriani’s G3 concert tour. In the following years, the guitarist continued to release successful music efforts, with his latest release being the tenth studio album ‘Inviolate.’
